Avenir, England
Avenir is the second most populous city of England with an urban area of 550 square miles and urban population of 6,785,339. Since the 19th century Avenir has been a major European cultural hub of arts, music, literature, fashion, science, and commerce. Its metropolitan area accounts for 12% of the entire British economy, in addition to being the 6th most expensive city in the world to live in, ahead of Geneva, Seoul, and Copenhagen, as well as the nation's capital. History Middle Ages While the name Avenir had been around since the 11th century after William the Conquerer invaded England, the current site of the city only originated around 1250, in central Blossom Hill. Its situation between London and developing Worcester stapled the site as a convenient post for travellers and commerce between the two entities. With movement via boats on the rise, by the 1400s Avenir was already the fifth largest settlement in Britain, expanding from modern Blossom Hill to the current situation of Ambrose Green. Potable marshland around the crossing rivers in Avenir made agriculture a profitable business, lighting a steady expansion continuing to the modern day. In 1440, construction of Saint Ambrose Barlow's Cathedral in central Ambrose Hill went underway. Around the same time, several villages near the growing city were admitted into Avenirian expansion. Fishmarket, named so after the bustling fishing business across the River Severn and its adjoining lake with the River Avon, officially connected with Avenir in the 1500s. This merge quickly made the practice the second largest industry in Avenir. Kingstanding (now Blithebeth) also joined the city in 1490, with the home of preceding monarch Henry VI. Around 80% of all potable land in Avenir had been farmed by the end of the Tudor period, leading to a decline in the city's growth and a series of famines. This lead to an increased practice of over-fishing as the majority of farmland had lost its nutrients due to poor farming methods. With no laws in place regarding fishing at the time, anyone could fish without a license or even Avenirian residence—the city's increasing over-reliance on fishing and farming ultimately lead to a series of famine from extreme lack of food, which peaked at around 1600. Due to all crops being essentially open to disease, increasing population density accelerated epidemics, which deposited largely in pockets of unprotected farmland. These two factors together killed around 60% of the entire population. Should neither have occurred, Avenir was projected to overtake the capital by 1750. Recovery Enter the next century in 1712, the shattered city was in full momentum once again. The invention of Thomas Newcomen's Newcomen engine and the rapid modernisation of steam power increased exports and imports into the city; the development of farming methods and tools allowed sustainable produce, especially with the dawn of new fertilisers accelerating growth; the rat infestation, particularly prevalent in Fishmarket, had diminished due to the protection of crops and fishing losing its monopoly in the area; and the new constitution in England thanks to the radical Glorious Revolution of 1688 particularly outlined Fishmarket's fishing problem, limiting its users to Avenirian citizens only. Around the same time, the hierarchy of Avenir had formed—where before many citizens were equal, delving into fishing or agricultural commerce, the growing divide between labourers and gentry and landowners was growing. By name of the latter, the land was growing increasingly expensive; the numerous benefits of Avenir made the potable land towards its centre and upon its rivers too rich for the labourers who had hitherto lived there. Organised suburbs that had been established for centuries were ripped apart by the wealthy, in favour of modern Gothic splendour. Ambrose Hill, in the centre of Avenir, turned from a quaint Tudor village into a sybaritic maze of mansions to house the wealthy, and a multitude of tall and wide streets full of big-budget shops, and, as it would later emerge, acres of dense terraced housing, where rich and poor meet their impossible collide. The Industrial Revolution The shadow of the Industrial Revolution blacked the undulating hills of Avenir, like a zeppelin made of coal. The rich and wealthy exploited the cheap labour of the poor. In the 19th century alone, Avenir went from 85% agricultural to 96% industrial. Designated plots of farmland became swathes of cotton plantations, and functional thoroughfares became pretentious shopping precincts. Due to the growing influence of the rich on the poor, jobs warranting cheap labour accounted for 30% of the city's wealth, such as in cotton plantations or manufacturing. The prevalence of entrepreneurs looking to expand into Avenir drastically increased money in the city, with sections of thereof almost entirely invested in this particular sector, particularly Holton and Fishmarket. The second biggest industry in Avenir during this time quickly became commerce, particularly shopping; the money made by suburbia such as Blithebeth by sales alone was outstanding, combined accounting for around 40% of all monetary growth from the capital. The next 30% is inclusive of housing and agriculture; the huge mansions in Avenir attracted swathes of the rich, generating a huge housing market defined largely by wealthy families looking for wealthy neighbourhoods. While in cities like London and Birmingham, the rich and the poor often clash, in Avenir, the poorer labourers were in pockets on the boundary of the city, far from the buzz of the rich, attracting a largely snobby, conservative audience. Agriculture still remained in the city, although mostly on the edge of the Avenir Hills in the north-west, the Redenham Hills in the south-east, and some of the preserved mires and marshland in the south-west. Controversy and Corruption The money generated by the rich in Avenir was so ludicrous, that by 1890, a few years after the very peak of industrial Avenir, the formation of any company based on cheap labour was forbidden, due to the Trade Union Act of 1871 making it much more difficult for businessowners to have such a hand of power. In Avenir, there was no balance of power; the wealthy had so much influence, they indirectly owned much of their workers. They could chose where they live, where they worked, what they owned—and this polarized hierarchy continued largely until the end of World War II, when the British economy was completely destroyed. Despite the rich forming around 28% of the population, they owned 60% of the city's wealth. The reason why this kind of disparity continued for around a century and was never stopped was because England (and later Britain) was almost entirely governed by the rich. The money generated by the labourers mostly went to the rich. There was almost no-one from a labourer background that had any kind of power; the absurb money generated by the city was only beneficial for the rich and powerful. No matter how much the poor rioted and petitioned, the rich were the only ones who "cared about them". They gave them their pay and land at the end of the day; they still fought their wars, built their roads, and, ultimately, did all the dirty work, in fear of losing it all. In almost every way, it was hopeless. Gentrification of Avenir Although a lot of this discrepancy against humanity was to generate money, many landowners and town planners were hellbent on order and architectural beauty. Despite tight laws on fishing and farming in Avenir, land could be acquired by just about anyone so long as they had the money. The biggest architect behind the Gentrification of Avenir, often nicknamed the Haussmann of Avenir, was Alfred Blithebeth. The suburb named in his honour, as well as his main brainchild, Blithebeth, is not only considered in the modern day one of the most beautiful examples of Art Nouveau architecture in the modern world but one of the most expensive, too. His brainchild was largely built on the idea of order; the modern planning of much of Victorian Avenir includes rectangular designs, with major buildings having their own plots of land encircled by roads—contrary to the majority of cities in the country, he wanted roads to be wide, a plan which has panned out to be extremely useful in a modern day obsessed with cars. Alfred Blithebeth mainly came to power out of the extreme misbalance of power in Avenir, and also out of English competition with the French at the time. Queen Victoria herself called upon the man to build the most beautiful city he could possibly create, giving him full jurisdiction over its planning. His family included the main designer of Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, Sir Christopher Wren, as well as others. World War I Despite its being as the 2nd largest city in the United Kingdom, Avenir was merely its 4th biggest industrial contributor. After the criminalisation of cheap labour in Avenir, much of the manufacturing sector was in decline. Wealthy businessmen flocked in the majority to London, where it was still allowed. Those that stayed were—almost in entirety—the eastern belt of the City Centre, Fishmarket, and Holton, together accounting for around 96% of the city's industrial sector. Avenir's biggest production goods for the War were rifles and machine guns. The LMG, originating in Western Front combat in 1918, was invented and tested in Fishmarket. Lee-Enfield Rifles were commonly produced in Holton, as well as cheaper, disposable mortars. Uniforms were also produced in Holton. Due to Avenir's location, very few factories built vehicles such as tanks and boats due to the expense of moving them to the battlefield, with the fastest trade route being significantly further than that of London and Birmingham. That said, there were still beta stage Mark V Tanks built in the south. Most of the factories in Avenir were state-commissioned, due to the decline of privately-owned businesses after 1890. World War II One of the few major successes of the Luftwaffe Bombing Campaign was its almost total obliteration of the Avenirian War Economy. While it never fulfilled its initial objective of destroying morale and seriously denting the war effort in Britain, carpet bombing against dense industrial areas in Avenir, particularly Fishmarket, the City Centre, and Holton, wiped out Avenirian production with immediate results. Avenir had the largest war plane factory in Europe, in the Spitfire Factory in central Fishmarket, which was the largest British target Hitler had in mind. Similar to the mindset of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Hitler had a particular fondness for Avenir, as he had once visited in 1936 with his lover Eva Braun, one of their last ever major trips together as Braun led a life completely sheltered throughout World War II. He knew exactly how Avenir ran as a city; the wealthy lived in the vast, wealthy areas, and the poor lived in extreme density in the periphery of the city, herded away from the rich. The industrial perimeters of Avenir meant nothing to him, and he unleashed the Luftwaffe's first example of Luftwaffe on the city. The 30-Day Blitz The original basis for Avenir was to bomb it in broad daylight over the course of 90 days, with Luftwaffe commanders predicting this timeframe to be the most efficient way to unleash aerial arsenal over Avenir without exhausting German bombing squadrons entirely. Avenir was less specifically-packed than it was in World War I, with traditionally wealthy suburbs having to adapt to the war demands, such as Ambrose Hill and Blithebeth. German intelligence, however unaware thereof, still chose to spread out their bombing in majority across the south and centre of the city. This poor drafting meant Holton in the north would be untouched, and as such Nazi spy regimes were ordered into Avenir to inspect the industrial core, albeit poor timing (forcing bombing to start in December 1940 as opposed to its summer) stalled time. This move later ended up benefiting the campaign, however, as attitudes shifted from daylight bombing to nighttime, with the winter granting longer time slots for night air raids. With sufficient intelligence in place, it became clear that spread-out bombing would fail to cause any significant damage, as had already been showed by the largely unsuccessful Blitz of London, and Hitler's outcry at its slowness. The Luftwaffe opted for its first ever carpet bombing on British soil, focused on completely obliterating Fishmarket, Holton, part of the City Centre, Blithebeth, Woodworth, Berkeley, Ambrose Hill, and Arendsby (at this time still part of the city centre), although the latter five never saw carpet bombing due to the expenses of its initial runs. Despite being a time of seeming rest, the 30-day consecutive bombing began on December 30, 1940, with its worst night being on January 12, 1941. First week At the final week of 1940, Avenir had miraculously seemed untouched. The capital's widespread destruction meant anti-aircraft guns set up in Avenir were moved due to no signs of German air assault over the city. Entirely off-guard, Fishmarket saw its first bombing run on the night of December 30, 1940, which picked out the factory land near the River Severn and its delta with the River Avon, which bombers were told to look out for. In the next six days the area around the Spitfire Factory, notable for its extreme size from the sky, was obliterated. After sheer success albeit huge ammunition expenditure, Hitler sent a fund originally intended for man-to-man combat in Poland for use in Luftwaffe in Avenir. January 6 - 13, 1941 On January 6, carpet bombing over Holton and the eastern rim of the city centre began. Extremely delayed responses from the British war effort compensated the lives of as many as 50,000 civilians, with no major bombing shelters being established until January 9, nor any AA guns seeing circulation until the 13th. On the 12th of January, the worst night of the bombing, as much as 20% of the entire Avenirian war economy was estimated as having been obliterated. Around 8,000 civilians died in the one night, the majority of which were in Holton. Fishmarket had lost 95% of its industry by this date, employing and housing around 60,000 people. January 13 - January 30, 1941 The results of the first two weeks of bombing were immediate, allowing the Luftwaffe to calm its weapon usage, amounting to 7,000 tonnes of bombs by January 13, more than half of the entire bomb expenditure of London, which occurred over 8 months. The plans to carpet bomb Blithebeth, Woodworth, Berkeley, Ambrose Hill, and Arendsby were scrapped due to extreme unsustainability after exceeding German economic limits by the 11th night. However Hitler, impetuously ignorant of his generals, continued to push his arsenal, disciplined by no-one. The remaining nights were used to bomb the suburbs listed, cheaply using incendiary bombs to try and scorch terraced buildings across the civilian sector of the city, which incendiary bombs were effective at. This had little efficacy compared to the former nights, with the majority of the final two weeks being used to simply burn the remaining bombs designated for use over the city. Post-War Avenir Gallery Category:Dragon's Creations Category:Locations